What's Going On Here

In just getting around to reading Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, their token liberal columnist William Galston squawked: “GOP Should Yield on the Debt Ceiling”. Why is that? The risk, of course, is default, which poses dire consequences for the economy if the Treasury runs out of funds and is “unable to meet their obligations fully.”  Bad things will happen, like downgrading the US bond rating, raising interest rates, and delaying payments to social security recipients and the military. “Serious, perhaps catastrophic”, “driving off the fiscal cliff”, and “probably plunging the US into recession”.  Yadayadayada. Mr. Galston believes that the rift between the two parties is “too deep to resolve between now and June” and proposes suspending the debt ceiling until September, kicking the can down the road, as is typical of these negotiations. He also states that everything will be fine because “Biden has said that he’s willing to discuss fiscal policy as part of the budget negotiations” separate and apart from a discussion on the debt ceiling. Sure he will. Give me what I want and maybe we can discuss concessions later. Uh-huh. But come on, man. If this is such an apocalyptic crisis, then why isn’t Biden willing to compromise, and offer the Republicans something in return?  After all, what they are asking for is some fiscal restraint, asking for spending cuts instead of plowing ahead with an irrational budget that got us into this mess in the first place. Remind me, how much money have we sent to Ukraine? But Biden has made it clear that he intends to make no concessions. He rambled on about all the people that won’t get their free stuff, singling out Medicaid in particular, a program rife with fraud and bloated beyond its original intent. Not a good example, but appealing to his base. And of course, he blamed Trump and the “MAGA Republicans” for causing the crisis with their tax cuts that “benefit the rich and big corporations.” Pay your fair share! Yawn. The progressives really need to come up with some new material. Perhaps something with a shred of truth to it. And someone please explain percentages to them, for God’s sake. So why is it always the job of the Republican Party to make concessions and cave to the will of the party that is actually steering the country toward economic disaster?  With millions of foreigners queuing up at the border to inject unskilled, unvaccinated, and illiterate, mostly male immigrants into a country teetering on the brink of economic catastrophe, Mr. Biden should consider what his priorities are. Or maybe he has.